3 dead, 30 ill after having lunch in Jalandhar factory

Atleast three workers died while more than thirty other employees fell seriously ill within few minutes of having lunch at Chinar Forge limited, sister concern of Shital Fibers owned by Shital Vij.

The supervisor of the factory, Davinder Sharma and cook Nirmal Rani died last night while worker Roshan Kumar died after serious food poisoning on Friday.

Apart from the workers and employees of the factory, the directors of the factory Vani Vij (wife of Shital Vij) and Shitesh Vij (son) also felt ill after having the food.

The police have arrested four people including contractor Ravinder Singh Dhillon and three cooks who used to supply food to the factory employees from makeshift canteen running in a rented flat daily.

The workers told that a few minutes after having lunch they started vomiting while few fell unconscious. The employees were rushed to Shri Devi Talab Mandir Charitable Hospital while Vani Vij and Shitesh Vij were admitted to Kidney Hospital.

Nearly 18 people are still admitted in the hospital out of which two are serious.

Dr RL Bassan, civil surgeon and Dr Ashwani Sondhi, district health officer visited the hospital and inquired about the health of the patients.

Dr Bassan said that the food samples of potatoes, macroni, beans, chapatti, rice, kaddi were collected and were sent to the laboratory for testing.

He said, “The report will reach us within a week. Every patient started vomiting within five to ten minutes which means that some toxin or chemical substance would be accidentally mixed up in the food. There could be possibility that lizard or other poisonous substance fell in the food while preparing”.

Rajesh Panchal, designer in the factory and one of the patients admitted to Shri Devi Talab Mandir said that he got to know that kadhi included in that meal was not good as people were complaining after having it. “Someone told me that kadhi was not good. So I took chapattis and beans vegetable. But within five to seven minutes I started vomiting”.

He added that the quality of the food was always good and they had no complaints with the hygiene.

Another patient, Jayant who was in ICU, said that the food was not having any bad odour or taste. “The food quality is always good. It must be some fault in the flour as many of the workers including me didn’t touch kaddi after we get to know that some people started vomiting. Rather I had beans and chapattis”.

ADCP Naresh Dogra informed that Rajvir Singh Dhillon and his three employees including Pradeep Kumar, Rohit Sharma and Karan have been arrested. “A case has been registered under section 328, 269, 272, 273, 284, 304 of IPC”, he added.